Faced with joining a desperately long NHS waiting list, Joe Rackham opted for online counselling instead. “I just felt that I couldn’t wait any longer – I was motivated and ready to deal with my issues and quite liked the idea of doing so in the comfort of my own home,” said the 29-year-old, who lives in London. After an online search, he found a therapist whose profile suited his needs and booked a chat session for the next day.

Remote, text-based counselling is growing in popularity in the UK. The doctor app Babylon offers therapy to 150,000 active users, while PlusGuidance, an online counselling service, has 10,000 users. The US-based service BetterHelp also has 150,000 registered UK users (though not all are active). Talkspace, another online therapy platform, reports it has 500,000 registered users worldwide, with most in the US.